Former President Joe Biden is being candid about his health and career days before his new memoir is set to be released.
In a wide-ranging interview with People, published Nov. 11, Biden opened up about his ongoing cancer battle, fateful 2024 presidential reelection bid and the current state of politics in Washington.
Biden's presidential memoir, "Promise Me, America," will hit shelves on Nov. 17. The book chronicles his four years in the White House and consequential 2024 decision to end his reelection bid.
The 83-year-old assured People that he is feeling good despite his age and cancer prognosis.
"I'm not saying I'll live forever, but the point is that I have all my faculties," he said.
Here are some highlights from the interview.
Biden well in warm 2021 letter left inside White House desk
Joe Biden reveals current cancer prognosis
Biden was diagnosed with prostate cancer in May 2025, months after leaving office. He has since undergone hormone therapy and radiation treatment.
Although the cancer had spread to his bones by the time it was detected, Biden told People that it has not metastasized further.
"It looks very positive. There’s a lot of people who’ve been diagnosed with cancer, particularly the kind of cancer I have, who live long lives, who live for another 10, 20 years," he told the outlet.
The former president announced on Nov. 8 that he would be scaling back his book tour in light of his cancer battle, writing in an X post: "Some days are better than others. It hasn't stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down."
Joe Biden reacts to Democrats' midterms sweep
After Democrats swept both the House and Senate in a stunning midterms shake-up, Biden said he thinks the outcome "couldn't have gone any better."
"I look out there and look at the people we got elected – first women governors, first Black governors – and I think that we really have made some real progress in both parties," he said.
While he thought Democrats would fare well, Biden admitted that he was "surprised they did so well."
"The first thing I heard on the TV was, 'The power has been returned to the people,'" he said. "I thought that was such a strong statement and that's how I felt."
Biden on 2024: 'I don't think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running'
Biden also addressed widespread questions about his mental acuity that swirled after his 2024 debate disaster against President Donald Trump, which ultimately led to him bowing out of the race.
But while he conceded that such questions are "natural," Biden argued that his age was "value added, not subtracted."
"If tomorrow you’re going to say that the head of your [company] is going to be hired on as an 80-year-old person, you go, 'What the hell’s going on?'" he said. "But the value I think I brought was I knew so many of the leaders, I knew their inclinations, I knew what was going on, and many of them came to me."
On the debate itself, Biden said he was not disturbed by his performance.
"Look, I don’t know anybody who hasn’t made a mistake in a debate. To me, it was not very consequential," he said.
He also said he would have resigned had his cancer diagnosis come during his time in office.
"I would’ve not gone forward, because I don’t think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running for (president)," he said. "But that wasn’t the case… I believe that on an objective basis, I was the best-equipped person to do the job."
Biden calls Trump's White House renovations 'disturbing'
When asked about Trump's controversial White House renovations, Biden called it "beneath the country."
"I mean, what the hell are we talking about? I find it disturbing," he said.
"I’ve viewed the president’s judgment in tearing down the East Wing and a number of other things as nothing more than trying to create monuments to himself," Biden continued.
Trump has defended the construction projects, telling reporters at his ballroom site on Nov. 4 that he's "doing it because the White House is the ultimate symbol of America."
In his new book, Biden revealed the letter Trump left him in the White House when he took over in 2021. Despite Trump's years of hostility toward Biden, the letter was written in a warm tone.
Because of that, Biden told People the letter could have been written by another president entirely.
"I mean, it was gracious, it was generous, and it was totally inconsistent with the kind of president he’d been," he said.
Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. Keep up with her on Instagram @bymelinakhan and TikTok @melina.khan2.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden gives update on cancer battle. 'I have all my faculties'
